


Linked by Spirit if not Blood

by Ran_E



Series: Those of Ylisse [5]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Gaius!Owain, Gen, Paternity test, Reincarnation, Saizo & Laslow support would be wise to watch first, Severa’s father is robin but that isn’t a big plot point it something either, Tomato Juice - Freeform, impossible meetings, inigo’s father is Chrom but it isn’t really a big plot point so I’ll just tag it like this, same with Rhajat & Caeldori support
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:54:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25497949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ran_E/pseuds/Ran_E
Summary: Laslow and Saizo got along quite well, but when Saizo introduces him to his son, Asugi, he recognizes him for Owain’s father.“Uncle Gaius, is that you?”
Relationships: Gurei | Asugi & Odin (Fire Emblem), Lazward | Laslow & Saizo (Fire Emblem)
Series: Those of Ylisse [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1740103
Comments: 3
Kudos: 30





	Linked by Spirit if not Blood

**Author's Note:**

> Knowing what transpires in the Saizo & Laslow support beforehand would be wise
> 
> Same with Caeldori & Rhajat. Pretty sure you can find it on YouTube or something

When Saizo and Laslow were walking together, most people thought that Laslow was a hostage of some sort. At first glance, the two of them didn’t seem like the types to get along. They were polar opposites: one of them very stoic, the other very amicable, in a way.

The start of their friendship had been very rough, with Saizo directly telling Laslow he didn’t like him. On top of that, he had thrown a shuriken in his direction.

Though with life comes a ton of surprises and in this case it was a newfound, unlikely friendship that may have seemed like a farce from the outside, but it was very real. Even if Laslow was at times too much for him to handle, he often enjoyed his presence.

A few months later, after the battle against Anankos, the both of them had been talking a lot more. More often than not did they talk about their lieges and their own services, but sometimes their talks deviated to family and other personal matters too.

Both Hoshidans and Nohrians had learned to get along a lot more since the skirmish between them had ended. It was only expected that some tensions were still in existence, but if the retainers of both kings could get along so well and were able to openly show it, it would only serve as a signal to the outside world, telling them that the other nation really was to be trusted.

It was today that Saizo had invited Laslow to discuss some more matters about security and other important duties surrounding their lords. Laslow had agreed of course, because sharing their thoughts could and would lead to better decisions. 

Saizo personally inviting Peri? That was no option. Choosing Laslow instead was much more reasonable.

Laslow wasn’t the only one that had come to Hoshido, however. Most other retainers, together with their lords, had come too, if only to discuss matters with their own counterparts. Elise and her own retainers, Effie and Arthur, had stayed behind.

It was only recently that Laslow found out Saizo had a son himself. He had known of his marriage, had even attended, but the existence of his son had completely eluded him.

“So,” Laslow booted up the conversation, “tell me about him. Is your son a lot like you and Kagero?” 

Saizo waited for a moment before he answered. The other would swear he saw his eyebrow twitch. “He is... certainly something.” No further explanations were added.

Laslow shot him a sideglance at the out of place description his fellow retainer had given him, but at this point he was sort of used to it.

The rest of the walk had been continued in a silence, though it was in no way awkward (even if Laslow had tried to get the other to talk multiple times.) 

“Hello Kagero, you’re as beau-“ Laslow could be dense at times, but he wasn’t to the point where he would literally lose his head over it. He stopped himself from saying anything more before anyone else could make him involuntarily stop. Be it violently or swift, saying anything more would have ended up with him signing his own death sentence.

A dagger glimmered in Kagero’s hand and the dancer loudly gulped. 

“Hello Kagero,” he tried again. “How have you been doing?”

Without him noticing, the dagger quickly faded from sight. “I am well. Are you?”

Laslow knew better than to elaborately answer and decided a quick nod was enough.

This time the silence lasted a lot longer. No one said a word or even moved or even blinked a single time.

“...behind you.” Saizo suddenly spoke up. A small smirk had shown up on his face. 

About a million different scenarios swimmed through Laslow’s mind about what could possibly be behind him. After a few second which seemed to last like an eternity, Laslow let out the most unmanly yelp he could possibly produce with his own throat.

At first glance the man, or rather, boy, looked like an average Hoshidan ninja. Dark hair, dark clothes and too inconspicuous for his liking. But when his eyes landed on his face when real surprise struck him. Before thinking, he spoke up.

“Uncle Gaius? Is that you?”

The ninja slowly blinked a few times before he let out a chuckle. “Formally my name’s Saizo the sixth,” he smiled at his father, who returned the gesture with a nod. “But call me Asugi if you want.”

“...”

Asugi waved his hand in front of Laslow’s face.

Laslow shook his head. “Pardon me, but the resemblance is uncanny.” He shrugged it off. “I’m King Xander’s retainer, Laslow. So... you’re Saizo‘s son?”

“Yup.”

Laslow quickly redirected his gaze at Saizo. He took a deep breath before talking. “You threw him into the baby realms? I honestly thought that was a Nohrian thing but the Hoshidans do the same? I don’t mean to disrespect, but I would never throw my child into a secondary pocket dimension.” He had been planning to continue, but found himself unable to. Instead, Asugi stopped his talking with his own statement.

“That’s enough, Flower Boy. It was lonely, sure, but it’s been discussed.”

And for the second time that day, Laslow had fallen silent, but he quickly regained his composure.

“You called me Flower Boy.”

Saizo sensed the embarrasment his own son would soon bring the Saizo name and interjected before Asugi possibly could. “He does that to everyone. Don’t mind him.” He quickly signaled his son to stop doing that.

“No, that’s,” Laslow stumbled over his words. “that’s not the problem. My uncle used to have all these nicknames for people too. Mine was Flower boy as well.”

Saizo’s expression didn’t change but a small hint of annoyance was in it. “Asugi is not your uncle.”

Laslow waved his hand in the air a few times as if that would make the thought disappear, of course Asugi wasn’t Gaius. “Don’t worry, Saizo, I know. The mere thought of the great Saizo’s son having a sweets addiction and a secret stash hidden in his armor is ridiculous. Surely a ninja isn’t allowed such trivial things.” It was only after Laslow had finished his talk that he realized both father and son were staring at him. Kagero had long left, he hadn’t noticed that.

Laslow blinked. “You’re kidding.”

Their faces remained unchanged and that was enough indication that none of this was part of an elaborate joke.

Laslow continued. “It must be a coincidence, right? Uncle Gaius is dead. He can’t be here.” He was ready to brush off the subject, including all awkward feelings attached to it, when Asugi decided to speak up.

“Gaius... It’s an anagram.” He said.

“A what?”

“You can spell Asugi using the letters in Gaius.”

Laslow took a moment to think before he turned heels and headed the other way. “I’ll be right back. I’m just getting someone.”

And with that, Laslow left.  
___

When Odin left for his arrangement, he had told Leo that he was going to discuss important things regarding the safety of the royals and the methods to achieve it with his fellow retainers.

Together with Niles, Hinata and Oboro, everything but that happened. They had talked about Odin’s awful choice in clothing, Oboro’s distrust in Nohrians and all other things that weren’t supposed to be discussed, but not about anything that should have been.

Actually, they were talking about their own experiences with the deeprealms when Laslow loudly entered the room they were in. 

“Odin,” he began, “you will need to come with me.”

“Does Lord Leo request my presence?”

“No.”

“I’m busy, then.”

Laslow raised an eyebrow as he took in the several objects laying on the table: playing cards, four empty bottles of expensive Nohrian wine and six different sets of dual swords. “I thought you were having an important meeting.” He told him that, even though he wasn’t convinced of that anymore. 

Odin only nodded.

Laslow focused his attention on the bottles again. “Odin, who is drunk?”

Odin raised his hands in the air in his defense. “None of us, my humble friend. It must have been one of the retainers experiencing ungodly amounts of heartbreak caused by-“

Niles stopped him. “Setsuna fell into a pit, got a headache and gulped two of the bottles down in one sitting. Probably thought it was water.” Recalling the scenario was obviously amusing for Niles, seeing there was an enormous grin plastered on his face.

“And you let her?!”

This time, Hinata got defensive. “I thought it was water too!”

“And why exactly would water be red?” Oboro threw back.

“Yes??”

Laslow rubbed his head. “You’re gonna get executed for this.” He walked over to Odin and grabbed him. “Odin, come with me. Where is Selena?” A short pause followed.

Odin pointed at his friend. “Behind you.” Or rather, behind him.

He turned around, knowing he should not be spooked again, but Selena’s face of fury was enough for him to get scared again.

And yes, behind Laslow stood Selena with a very drunk Setsuna in her arms. “What did you guys give Setsuna? Have you seen the state she’s in?”

Oboro held up her hand. “There’s a few drops left in this one. I’ll taste.” She took the bottle from the table and sipped the remaining drops from it. The moment the taste registered on her tongue, her eyebrows shot up. “This isn’t even wine, it’s tomato juice.”

Hinata slammed his fist on the table. “Told you it’s water! There’s a lot of water in tomatoes!” 

Oboro didn’t even grant him one of her replies while Niles was very loudly snickering.

As one of the bottles, accidentally knocked off by Odin, rolled off the table, he slapped his hands over his mouth in shock. “Then what have I graced Lord Leo with?!”

Their chaos was soon interrupted by Laslow. “Frankly, I think Lord Leo is a very cautious man who very neatly checks if all is alright.”

He threw his hands overly dramatically in the air. “You have not seen how he drinks tomato juice.” Odin’s shock had not lessened.

Oboro redirected the topic at hand. “I think it’s a more pressing concern how Setsuna got drunk from tomato juice.”

For the first time, Setsuna spoke up. “I’m not druuunk. I hit my head. Thank you for always looking out for meeee.”

“How long were you in that pit?!”

Selena loudly cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Laslow, why were you so concerned before? And Odin, Laslow came here in a panic. What are you doing?! Gods, for the well-being of our homeland, I hope the both of you die before Lucina does.”

“You’ve been standing behind me for that long?”

“Yes.”

Laslow decided to drop it. “Selena and Odin, you will really want to come with me now.”

Neither said a word but both followed. None of them looked back when Niles told Odin they really had things to discuss.

___

The three of them were back at the same place and only Saizo remained in sight. Upon seeing the three, he only gave nod. He did seem to be wondering why he had brought those two with him specifically.

“Odin,” Laslow adressed his friend, who gave him a look of curiosity in return, “look at Saizo. Does he seem familiar?” Laslow had crossed his arms 

Odin approached Saizo and looked him straight into his eyes. After a long time of pondering, he took a deep, deep breath and voiced his thought.

“I sense a deep, deep annoyance within your broken soul! Tell me, you who shares a dark fate with me, what has transpired to affect your aching heart this way? It must have been the very darkest of-“ 

Selena rolled her eyes. “That would be because of you. Can you give a normal answer for once in your life?”

He nodded. “I guess we share the same hair color.”

That sparked Saizo’s interest, or perhaps it was pity he felt for the weirdly clad man. He glanced at the man’s hair, then promptly moved his eyes to Laslow. “Is this one healthy?”

Laslow chuckled, but Odin was less amused. “For a fact, I did not hit my head! I assure you, I am perfectly healthy!”

“Says the one whose eyes turn red whenever he engages in battle.”

“Shut up!”

“But anyway,” Laslow said, “where’s your son?”

Saizo did not answer verbally. Instead, he only smirked. Laslow felt dreadful, he knew exactly where this was going. He closed his eyes, preparing himself for another jumpscare, but he had quickly changed his mind. Not again. He would not allow this to happen again.

“No,” he firmly said as he opened his eyes again. “I am not looking behind m-Aaaaah!” This time, Asugi was right in front of him. “Stop doing that, I don’t like it!”

A small smile crept upon his face. “Don’t worry, Flower Boy.” His interest was quickly diverted to other people, however. “You’re Ophelia’s dad, right?”

Odin did not often lose his composure nor did he fall out of character a lot, but the sight before him was enough for both of these things to happen. It was one of these very, very rare times in which Odin was speechless. Not many could claim that they had seen that happen, but everyone present now would be able to do so.

“What is it?” Asugi asked.

Odin made a ton of facial expressions and hand gestures, but he found himself almost unable to say a single word. “My father? You’re... my father. But... you’re not?”

Meanwhile, Selena was just staring with the biggest frown her face had ever made and her mouth slightly agape.

Asugi broke the silence. “Gaius, right? Your father?”

Odin nodded.

“When did he die?”

He didn’t immediately respond. “...First day of the year.”

Asugi didn’t hesitate to answer. “That’s my birthday. January first.”

Once again, silence filled the conversation. This time, Saizo was the one to break it.

“Asugi is not your father...” He may have said that, but the coincidences were piling up faster and faster and completely denying their existence wasn’t something Saizo was doing. His voice reflected a tiny part of that uncertainty, his son being the only one able to pick it up.

“I’m sure he knows that, father,” Asugi stared at him, “but you have to admit this is really strange. They’re from some far-off country, right? I guess it’s possible that they encountered someone resembling Owain’s father. There’s a lot of people in the world, but that doesn’t take away the creepiness of this topic.”

This time everyone stared at Asugi instead. “Said something wrong?” 

“You... you did not call him Odin.”

Asugi blinked. “Ah, yeah, sorry. Didn’t really know his name before.”

“That is not the problem!” Selena exclaimed with a trembling voice before Odin could. “How do you know Odin’s name?”

Saizo’s eyebrow shot up in surprise. “You’re using an alias? I... did not expect that.” He would file that away for later. Now was not the time. “Asugi, how did you know?”

Asugi, who hadn’t noticed his own slip up, was still confused what all the commotion surrounding him was about. “What do you mean?”

It was Odin’s chance to stop whatever was going on and address what was happening, or had already happened. “You called me Owain... My own daughter has never heard that name. How did you?”

Even when that had been cleared up for a part, Asugi still didn’t understand and his body language was enough to show that he didn’t. “I didn’t? Did I? I haven’t heard of that name before.”

Saizo himself had been skeptical about the whole ordeal at first, but that one slip up was enough to convince him that they weren’t getting the whole picture. Instead of taking orders like he was so used to, he gave them now instead. “Asugi, find Rhajat or Midori. I’ll get the bowl.”

Asugi’s eyes widened in realization at what his father was trying to do. “You’re serious.”

And within a second, they had vanished.

___

The three Nohrian retainers barely had any time to talk about whatever it was that was going on here, before both of them had come back already. Not together, however. Saizo was first with a bamboo bowl and two needles in tow. He set the bowl, with the size of a shield, onto the ground. The needles he kept firmly in his hands.

It was only a few moments after Saizo’s arrival that Asugi himself had announced his presence too. With him were two people, presumably the people Saizo had mentioned to fetch. 

One of them had a very dark, close to black hair color. The other one had long crimson hair.

Saizo had a question on his mind, but his son answered it before he could voice it. “If you’re wondering why Caeldori’s with us, Rhajat insisted on bringing her for a training of some sort. They were together already.” He faced Caeldori. “Why are you arching your eyebrow like that?”

“It is part of the training.”

Asugi seemed very unimpressed, but someone else definitely was. 

“This is a sick joke, it has to be!” Selena exclaimed while rapidly approaching Caeldori. “Damnit!” She took Caeldori’s hands into her own and clenched them a bit too hard to the point where they were becoming red.

Caeldori looked completely offended. She wondered if her attempt at being more mysterious was so bad that it caused strangers to randomly yell at her. “Was I that bad? Don’t be so severe.”

That was it. Selena ran a short distance and sat down on the grass, clenching her knees close to herself with her arms.

Saizo looked knowingly at Laslow, who had been silently watching for a while. Suspicions were at an all-time high. Laslow knew exactly what the man was thinking.

“Cordelia.” Was the only thing Laslow had to say.

“Another anagram then.”

“Yes, I suppose. Same with Tharja over there.” He pointed to the ominous girl preparing a spell over the bowl.

“Tharja... Rhajat, you mean?”

Laslow nodded. “Creepy witch, that one. She always counts how many times Selena’s father turns in his sleep. Obsessed with hexes and her daughter is just as bad. Tried to kill me with a bow multiple times, actually.”

Saizo shook his head to get that bit of information out of his memories and took a small cloth from his pocket to clean the needles he had with him with. He called both Asugi and Odin over with a simple hand gesture. Both listened to him.

“Odin, you probably don’t know, but what we’re doing now is a variant of a paternity test. Prick yourself with the needle and a few drops of blood fall into the bowl.” He shot a quick look at the bowl on the ground. “If it doesn’t mix, you’re not related. If it does, you’re related by blood. If it clots...” Saizo took a short pause. “That would mean you’ve been related in another life. Reincarnation. Understood?”

Odin had understood very well and nodded. Almost eagerly, he slashed his thumb with it and let more than a few drops fall into it. Asugi frowned.

“Now I’ll have to give that much too!” Without any further complaining, the ninja pricked his thumb and let the blood flow from it, drop by drop. That took a bit longer though, since the amount of blood offered had to be the same.

With anticipation, everyone present, including Selena, looked into the bowl. Water had been added as well. At first, it looked like it didn’t mix.

But then it did. Odin looked up in confusion and wanted to speak up, but Asugi stopped him. “Don’t stop looking.”

Odin quickly redirected his gaze on the bowl.

Because after it mixed, the blood clotted and fell to the bottom of the bowl. The reactions differed very much.

Laslow was smiling.

Selena had clenched Caeldori’s hand into hers. Caeldori didn’t know why, but she returned the gesture with a hug.

Rhajat was maniacally laughing, which made Laslow stop smiling. Traumas were catching up to him.

If Saizo felt anything, he didn’t show it.

Odin did not do anything but stare at the bowl, unbelieving of its results.

Asugi was horrified.

Odin had noticed Asugi’s sudden change in demeanor. “Don’t worry, it’s okay.” Actually, Odin hadn’t seemed this genuinely happy in a long time. “I’ve had my time to grieve. I know you’re not my father. I’m just happy that your travel led you to a good place.” Odin smiled and held his hand out to Asugi, which he immediately accepted.

Asugi smiled back. “Thank you, Owain.”

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so about the blood test: I based it on an old Chinese paternity test in which father & son spill a drop of blood into a bowl of water. Then it mixes or it doesn’t I can’t really remember a lot of it.
> 
> I really didn’t know who I wanted to make Gaius’ kid. In the beginning I was like ‘Severa’ because of fast support growths but I wanted to make the whole Caeldori think bigger (whoops didn’t happen) so that would be too much and then I didn’t know who to choose between Inigo and Owain. Went with Owain because Owain would have no screen time in this fic if it had been Laslow.
> 
> Made Chrom Inigo’s father only to make him & Owain related srry
> 
> Btw Inigo is traumatized by Noire
> 
> What am I even doing


End file.
